Greece Part 2 After a week in Crete it was time for a week on the island of Paros - a much smaller island further north and closer to the mainland. We took a ferry to Paros by way of a night on Santorini. Santorini is the most popular vacation destination among the islands. Tom did some research and found us a good deal at hotel overlooking the caldera and a perfect location to watch the sunset; known to be magnificent. We took ferry leg number one from Crete to Santorini. It would take a few hours on a very large ferry that carried both people and vehicles. The area for people resembled that of a mini cruise ship with different areas and types of seating. We had reserved seats that were airline like and spent most of the trip resting. Towards the end of the trip we walked around a bit, spent some time out on deck of the back of the ship and took in the scenery until we finally reached Santorini. Tom arranged to have a car waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It took a good 25-35 minutes to get to the hotel. Everything on Santorini is high up atop the island cliffs and the roads were primarily switchbacks the whole way up. One of the main towns that we passed on the way to our hotel seemed like it was carved into rock with just enough room for people to get around. When we reached our hotel, the main caretaker met our taxi she had arranged and showed us to our room. It was fantastic. It opened up onto a main patio area that pointed out over the hotels pool below, down a series of steps, and the caldera. There were benches at the edge of the patio area positioned just so for viewing the sunset. We had our own little porch with table and two chairs outside our door right before the main patio where they would bring breakfast in the morning. This was Greece! At least the Greece of Mamma Mia and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Gorgeous cliffs, white and blue buildings perfectly arranged, other islands, and the crystal clear blue water as far as you could see. We took a walk down to the town that was closest to our hotel. We had been directed to a path that went past the pool of our hotel and told it would be about a fifteen minute walk. We took the dirt and rock path along the side of the island to town and browsed the shops and restaurants trying to find a place to eat. It was HOT! The sun was beating down on us and the effect crept up on us toward the end of the walk back to the hotel after lunch where we picked up pace afraid of getting burnt to a crisp. Before heading back to the hotel though, we had a really nice lunch with a great view. It was Friday so we had one more night to work before the weekend. After lunch we got settled in for the night of work. We worked for a couple hours and then took a break for sunset. We walked out our door and saw what everyone was talking about; it truly was an amazing site. After sunset and some more work we grabbed a bite to eat across the road from the hotel. Back to work after a quick bite and then to bed. The next morning we woke to breakfast on the porch. We packed up and headed back down to the port to board the ferry for Paros. When we arrived at Parikia, the main port city of Paros, it was pretty late. It was the end of season and the buses had a reduced schedule so we had to take a taxi to Anezina Village, our home for the next week. We met Stavros and Maria the Son/Mother caretakers and got checked into our room. The rooms were very rustic but large and ours had a balcony that sat on top of one of the rooms below and was as big as the living room area inside. Angled just right you could see the sea out in the not so far distance. We grabbed some dinner at the resort dining room and then walked around the little village of a town that it was in to get our bearings. It was very quiet and peaceful. Our first day on Paros ended up being one where we had to head back to the main port town and try and find a mobile wifi solution. We thought the internet at Crete was bad…Anezina didn’t have Internet that reached the rooms, you had to go to the main building, and when there the connection was dreadful. Not acceptable for work so we had to find a place to buy a 3G router solution to use while there. We ended up finding one that we hoped and were told was unlocked so we could use it in other countries if needed and the wireless company had a pretty good rate for the data. We had rented a car the day before in order to get back to the port city with flexibility in case we needed to go to a few places to find the 3G router. We ended up renting the car for the whole week, being able to leave it at the airport for our early morning flight the following Saturday. In the end, other than gas, we probably saved money as opposed to taking taxis the few times we would have had to do so instead of taking the bus. Having the internet solution resolved we spent the next day, Monday, before work on Antiparos, a small island reachable by regular ferry in 15 minutes. We drove to the port of Pounda, about 15km from our resort and drove the rental car onto the ferry. Once we reached Antiparos we drove off the ferry and parked nearby at the port and grabbed some breakfast. The restaurant we ate at was a pretty standard place in the small Greece port towns. This one had the benefit of being situated right across from the boat slips at the port. The water, even by the pier and all of the fishing boats, was so clear. It was a great morning to sit outside and have a bite to eat. The highlight for me was the homemade apple marmalade they served with the toast. I liked it so much I ended up asking if they would sell me some of it and they did. They put some in a jar for me and agreed to hold it in their refrigerator until we came back from our day on the island. After breakfast we headed to the Cave of AntiParos. The cave has been known and famous for over 2000 years. There is an inscription describing a Christmas mass in 1673, held in honour of the French ambassador to Constantinople, Count Nouantelle, who paid 500 people from Antiparos and Paros to take part. The oldest stalagmite in the cave is located at the entrance and is estimated to be around 45 million years old. This is also believed to be the oldest stalagmite in Europe. There are a total of 411 steps that lead to the heart of the cave, which is around 100 meters deep. The stalagmites and stalactites are all around, forming unique and stunning shapes in all sizes. At the entrance of the cave, there is the white chapel of Agios Ioannis Spiliotis, built in the 18th century. We made it to the bottom of the cave and back up again. Down was much easier. They have done a great job at making it very accessible and they even have a small bridge like structure about half way down that you can walk across and get the feeling of being in the center of it all. After the cave we drove to Soros Beach. We swam at the beach in its crystal clear, cool waters. It was perhaps the clearest water we had ever swum in. It was a great way to end our day before getting back to the resort to begin work for the night. I kept myself from saying it was the best day ever, but it certainly will always be a contender. The rest of the week was mainly just an overall restful and relaxing week. One night the resort had Greek night with customary Greek foods and live music. Another night they had cooking lessons for those staying there that wanted to participate and afterward everyone was able to devour the results. Other than that, Paros (and Antiparos) proved to be one of our favorite stops. We would definitely like to visit Greece again sometime in the future. Greece ends our Mediterranean stops (Rome, Tuscany Italy and Barcelona, Spain before it) and now we are headed to Asia with a stop in Dubai. It will become a very different trip again.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:37:51 +0000
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